Senior sports reporter with The Age

ALESSANDRO Del Piero has shown, with the massive impact he has had in Australia over the past few months, the value of a genuine marquee player.

David Beckham remains on the radar for a handful of Australian clubs - Melbourne Heart, Perth Glory and Central Coast Mariners are leading the charge - and the former England captain will make a decision on his future in the days following his final appearance for LA Galaxy this weekend.

While Australia is a chance to become his next port of call, a new and perhaps compelling rival in the shape of French club Monaco has emerged.

Its proximity to Britain, where the Beckham family lives, and its status as a tax haven and closeness to major markets for his and his wife Victoria's ancillary business activities might make Monaco a more attractive option than Perth, Sydney or Melbourne. But much will depend upon the 37-year-old Beckham's thoughts about the ''legacy'' he might want to leave in the game.

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Del Piero's arrival generated scenes close to hysteria, while his first training sessions and media conferences in Sydney pushed the NRL finals series stories off the back page and down the order in the TV news bulletins.

The Italian superstar has largely backed up the hype on the pitch. While he might not have dominated games (he is, after all, 38) he has scored goals (including a sumptuous free kick), created for others and led from the front in a team that has struggled to meet anything like the weight of expectation that arose with his arrival.

He has kept Sydney in the headlines and pulled crowds and ensured that people who might not otherwise have thought much or known about soccer or the A-League have been made aware of its existence.

He has broadened the horizons for the A-League internationally - Sydney's games have been shown on Italian television which, given the club's patchy performances, is something of a mixed blessing - and has increased its credibility in both Europe and Asia.

After all, if it's good enough for a player of his standards and status in the game to play here, then surely it's good enough for many others whose time in the top flight is drawing to a close.

Del Piero's short spell here is, in fact, a perfect template (Sydney's results excepted, of course) of how a marquee player should work.

He has bought into ''the project'' and committed himself for the long haul, having signed a two-year deal deal to ensure he can make a long-term impact.

Now he has to galvanise Sydney FC into a turn-around on the field, alongside new manager Frank Farina (himself one of the few Australians who has played in the Serie A, where Del Piero spent his entire career, almost all of it with Juventus).

If he can do that - and in a competition in which the playing field is as level as the A-League, three wins on the run can make a massive difference to a team's position - he will only enhance his status.

Should Beckham end up in Australia, if only for a 10-game guest stint, the buzz would be enormous.

He remains, probably after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo (and perhaps he is ahead of the latter) the best-known name in the global game. His crossover appeal would be massive, and he would likely sell out every game he plays in.

But then what? It's hard not to think that once the hoopla and hype had passed through town, the tents had been folded and the circus moved on, then things might revert to what they had been.

A 10-game guest stint is just that. A player is not a genuine signing for the club. He is not realistically there to build for its long term. He is there to boost its image, give it a shot in the arm, attract fans and corporate backers and help lift its performance in the time he is with it.

Beckham would do all of the above - in spades - and whoever signs him (if it is an Australian club) would get an immediate financial boost, even though he would cost a huge sum to bring here. But if he was to go within three months, would the theatregoers and new supporters hang on? Or would they just go back to what they were doing before?

Of course, the challenge for the club is to ensure it can consolidate on those short-term gains, and in the case of Beckham, try to persuade him to commit himself into a longer-term deal - to stay for a season or two and really build a legacy.

Harold Mitchell, the doyen of the Australian marketing and advertising world, has plenty of experience of sports business and knows a thing or two about using marquee signings to generate a buzz. As chairman of the Melbourne Rebels, he did exactly that in the first season to try to forge an identity and culture for the fledgling Super 15 club.

A-League clubs can do the same, he says, but have to realise that, ultimately, it's the club and its success that will generate fan loyalty and commitment, not a succession of big-name signings, especially short-term ones.

''At the Rebels we got Stirling Mortlock and Danny Cipriani. Stirling had been the Wallabies captain and was a huge figure in the game, while Danny had a big reputation and was an England international, so people wanted to come and see him,'' Mitchell said. (Cipriani was a mixed bag, he didn't fire as a player and got into some off-field trouble before leaving. Mortlock quickly became an iconic figure at the new club.)

''It's the same with soccer, people are keen to come and see the big names. Look what Gary Ablett did for Gold Coast in the AFL, not just on the pitch but in terms of building them up as a club.

''Black Caviar, in a way, performed a similar thing for racing, attracting people to racetracks who normally didn't go. Marquee players are the best way to jump-start a team, lift their image, get media and publicity and create a buzz about them.

''But, longer term, it is about the club and the team and them building success so that every player becomes a marquee player in a way. Long-term, people want to follow the team not just a player.

''A marquee player also has to be affordable and sustainable. Sports business is like show business, you have to provide some excitement, but you have to get the costs right. If the price is too high, and it doesn't leave the resources for development of other players, it's not right.

''An absolute marquee player is the sort of person who can fill a half-full stadium when he arrives. It will work for a while, but it won't sustain things for ever. If possible, the marquee player should be a long-term signing, someone who will help develop the club over time.''

Over to you Becks …

MARQUEE HITS AND MISSESTHE MASTERSALESSANDRO DEL PIERO The media hype, fan frenzy and on-field performance of the Italian superstar have already paid huge dividends for Sydney. Shame about the rest of the team.

DWIGHT YORKE Another Sky Blue star, this time in year one. All-night Dwight brought tabloid interest here and overseas, but he behaved enough and played well enough to inspire Sydney to that maiden A-League championship.

THOMAS BROICH The German star might have fallen out of love with soccer in his home country, but he proved an inspirational signing for Ange Postecoglou as he helped guide the Roar to two back-to-back championships.

ARCHIE THOMPSON Melbourne's marquee man right from the start, and could anyone seriously argue that Archie hasn't been the league's most consistent performer over eight mainly successful years? Still scoring, at 34, for club and country.

HARRY KEWELL Might not have been quite the success on the pitch he or Victory were hoping as Victory's season imploded during Kewell's year there. But he did what marquee men are supposed to do off the pitch: he brought massive publicity, huge crossover interest and great promotion for the club and the game.

THE MISFITSMARIO JARDEL A goalscoring machine - about a decade before he arrived in Australia - the Brazilian international was out of shape and out of form when he arrived at the Newcastle Jets in 2007-08. He made little impact and was allowed to go halfway through the season. Jets won the title without him.

EDMUNDO ZURA Another exotic import to Newcastle, Zura's habit of donning a Spider-Man mask in his goalscoring celebrations certainly caught the imagination. Shame he didn't hit the target in another abbreviated stay in the Hunter Valley, the Ecuadorian leaving not long after he arrived on loan.

BRIAN DEANE Might be the answer to the trivia question who scored the first goal in Premier League history (he did, for Sheffield United) but he made little history in his seven games at Perth Glory in the first A-League season. Too old, too slow. Now coaching in Norway.

RICARDINHO Funny how so many of the marquee flops hail from South America. Perhaps the DVDs do lie? Anyway, Brazilian Ricardinho was proclaimed the King of the Dribble when he signed for Victory in 2010-11, but he was another who had little impact and was moved on halfway through the season.

AHMAD ELRICH The flying Socceroo winger's career nosedived when he left his homeland and he suffered a series of injuries which further curtailed his game, including a serious leg injury while playing for the national team. The Phoenix signed him as their marquee for 2007-08, but Elrich only played half the games before returning to Australia.